Commentary: Sufferers often have no idea that sleep apnea is behind their poor sleep
My friend Emma Cooksey dozed off driving her 7-month-old baby home one day. She narrowly avoided a catastrophic crash.
Her lousy sleep was the problem. It haunted her nearly her entire adult life. She talked to doctors about it over and over again, but to no avail. After this near miss, she knew she desperately needed an answer.
Because she persisted, Cooksey finally found out that her sleep had a fundamental flaw: periodic breathing pauses. People with this problem can wake up oblivious to the fact that they repeatedly stop breathing overnight.
That's sleep apnea. The delay in getting this answer for Cooksey can be blamed on widespread misconceptions about this disorder.
Poor sleep doesn't always lead to a car crash; but over time, it always wreaks havoc on health and longevity. According to recent findings, it can even lead to Parkinson's disease.
Scientists like me are searching for solutions. I shifted my research when I realized that people need sleep for more than just alertness. Even if coffee consumption keeps you fully alert all day, insufficient sleep could be bad for your brain health, heart health and immune function, not to mention memory recall.
Sleep apnea is worthy of attention both because it is so pervasive and because its consequences go well beyond sleepiness.
Sleep apnea affects approximately 1 out of 8 people worldwide. Considering the health repercussions, that's a massive societal burden and economic cost.
Worse still, people with sleep apnea often remain in the dark about what's going on. When you're awake, a breathing abnormality might be obvious. When you're asleep, it's another story.
Cooksey's problem could have been treated well before that pivotal driving incident, but it wasn't. She is now working to get the word out about sleep apnea at Project-Sleep.com.
Notably, the symptoms of sleep apnea vary. Sleepiness might be excessive, but not always. People may have morning headaches, or not. Maybe loud snoring, sometimes high blood pressure. Some never feel refreshed after sleeping, but some manage fine if the coffee keeps flowing.
Sleep apnea goes undiagnosed all too often, especially in women. The outmoded assumption made by many doctors is that sleep apnea mainly afflicts men, and mainly overweight men.
Fortunately for Cooksey, she finally got the right diagnosis and began an effective therapy, opening her airway with air forced through the mouth or nose, called positive airway pressure. She says the treatment was lifesaving.
Yet, the treatment is not a miracle solution. It doesn't work for everyone. Other options are needed.
How will effective solutions be found? Taxpayer funding is key. The National Institutes of Health directs taxpayer money to research based on societal need and whether the research holds promise for improving health. Drug companies or sleep-tech start-ups may also find solutions, but many years of work may be needed. If large profits aren't likely in the short term, companies won't go there.
Better treatments could reduce national health costs significantly by lessening the burden of apnea-related health problems and of missed work. This is where public investment in science can pay off big time.
On top of that, doctors and patients alike need to be educated about this and other sleep disorders.
The hope Cooksey and I share is that people with undiagnosed sleep apnea will receive treatment and live healthier lives. People needn't suffer from sleepiness and from all the other consequences of poor sleep.
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Ken Palleris a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University.
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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 4:04 AM.